All roads lead to Columbus, Akron

LIMA - The first stops along the roads to Columbus and Akron have been set up for area baseball and softball teams. On Sunday, coaches gathered to draw up brackets and hand out seedings for sectional tournaments.

Highlighting the baseball draw is the Division III tournament in Coldwater where none of the six teams had a losing record as of Sunday. The host Cavaliers took the top seed with a 16-4 record while Midwest Athletic Conference foe Parkway nabbed the second seed at 16-3.

The first afternoon of action occurs Saturday, with Bath (10-9) battling Lima Central Catholic (11-8) and St. Henry (17-3) focused on Marion Local (9-9).

"When they put the records up on the board and the lowest team was Marion Local with a .500 record and three teams above 16 wins, that does say something about the quality of baseball in our area," Bath coach Tony Roob said. "It also was an eye-opener for us to see what we have to go through to make it out."

At Elida, the Western Buckeye League renews rivalries; all seven teams are WBL members. Shawnee is the top seed, and faces the winner of the Wapakoneta-Elida game May 17. The second seed is St. Marys, which faces Celina on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The only Division I baseball team in the area, Lima Senior takes its 0-14 record to Bowling Green for a matchup with Findlay (12-6) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

On the softball side, two state-ranked teams are on a collision course in the Division IV sectional at Lincolnview. Top-ranked Crestview (17-0) faces the winner of Ottoville-Kalida on Tuesday at 5 p.m. Continental (11-4), No. 10 in the state, matches up with the winner of Lincolnview-Delphos Jefferson on Monday at 5 p.m.

If seeding holds true, the Pirates and Knights could face each other May 20 at 5 p.m.

"It's the postseason and everything that happened in the regular season doesn't matter because teams take on a whole new light now," Crestview coach Ali Sawmiller said. "I look at Ottoville and Kalida, and they both can bring it. I don't look at any of these teams as ones we can overlook."

In the Division I draw at Bowling Green High School, Lima Senior (1-16) begins its second season with a game against Perrysburg (13-5) on Saturday at 12 p.m.

The Division II bracket at Bath might be one of the hardest in the area - only one of the teams, Elida (7-12), has a losing record. Top-seeded Celina (15-2) waits for the Shawnee-Wapakoneta winner while second-seeded Bath (16-5) plays the winner of St. Marys-Elida.